The present invention relates to a device and method for computerized product slicing and, more particularly, to a device and method for producing neat stacks of sliced product. The claimed invention is expected to find especial utility in slicing food products, especially meats and cheeses.
Many food slicing devices/methods are known in the art. A brief summary is provided here to emphasize the novelty of the claimed invention. This summary does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis of all prior art slicers or slicing methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,618 teaches production of slices which are deposited on a support in a plurality of rows with the slices in each row offset from one another by a predetermined first distance and the rows offset from each other by a predetermined second distance. This patent teaches against stacking of slices produced by the slicer. Further, teachings of this patent do not include detection of product presence in the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,447 teaches stacking and weighing slices coming from the discharge end of a slicing machine. The apparatus is initially set to receive slices in stacked form on a stacker. Teachings of this patent emphasize a profile compensation control system to maintain uniform weight between stacks. The profile compensation control system is provided to compensate for tapers on the rear and front ends of a load to be sliced and accordingly adjust the slice thickness and obtain uniform and acceptable stack weights. Thus, teachings of this patent have as an inherent disadvantage non-uniform slice thickness in at least some of the stacks. Further, teachings of this patent are ill suited to “custom slicing” situations where a different stack weight is desired for each successive slicing operation or where different products are sliced successively (e.g. delicatessen or supermarket counters). Further, teachings of this patent do not include detection of product presence in the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,911 teaches monitoring weight of accumulated slices of meat in a first slicing operation in order to ascertain slicing parameters for a subsequent slicing operation with a similar desired target weight. teachings of this patent are ill suited to “custom slicing” situations where a different stack weight is desired for each successive slicing operation or where different products are sliced successively (e.g. delicatessen or supermarket counters). Further, teachings of this patent do not include detection of product presence in the device.
U.S. Patent Application 20020184983 teaches a food slicer which weighs accumulated slices and displays the accumulated weight. These teachings do not include input of data to a CPU for control of a slicing operation. Further, teachings of this application do not include detection of product presence in the device.
PCT application WO9933620 teaches an automatic food slicer but fails to teach detection of product presence in the device.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, device and method for computerized product slicing devoid of the above limitations.